New wave of US attacks against Houthi militia targets in Yemen. A day after military action by British and American forces against the Iranian-backed rebel group, US troops have carried out a second coup, although on a much smaller scale. This time, as reported by a high military commander, they have focused on radar installations.
Washington had warned after Thursday's action that it would not hesitate to “take further measures” if the Houthis did not stop harassing merchant ships passing through the Red Sea, through which around 15% of global maritime traffic passes according to US estimates. In statements to the press while visiting Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden himself had reiterated that he would order new attacks if the hostile actions of the rebel group continued. “We will make sure to respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior,” he had noted.
The Yemeni militia had assured that it would respond to the attacks received, and this Friday it fired a missile at a civilian ship, without hitting it.
Unlike the previous day, this Friday's attack only involved American participation, according to the military command. Thursday's operation, in which US and UK forces had the support of the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Bahrain to hit 60 targets in 28 locations in various Yemeni towns, had been the first major act of retaliation since that the Houthis began to harass merchant ships. In that blow, the United States fired 150 high-precision projectiles, launched by F-18 fighters that took off from the aircraft carrier. Dwight Eisenhower, deployed in the area. The destroyers Gravely and Masonas well as the cruise Philippine Sea and a submarine fired Tomahawk missiles.
As tension that has already grown in recent weeks increases, and concern spreads that the war between Israel and the radical Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza could expand throughout the region, the United States assures that “we are not interested in a war against the Houthis in Yemen, we are not interested in any kind of conflict. We want their attacks to stop,” stressed the spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby.
Since the beginning of the crisis in October, one of the United States' main objectives has been to prevent the conflict from spreading throughout the region. To avoid this, he had reinforced his military presence in the area as a deterrent, and had undertaken an intense diplomatic offensive that has taken his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to the Middle East four times in three months. Tehran, the great protector of the rebel group, has assured that the attacks fuel “insecurity and instability” in the area, although at the moment it does not seem interested in a direct confrontation to defend its allies.
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The Pentagon continues its evaluation of the results of Thursday's operation, although it has advanced that those attacks reduced the ability of Houthi groups to launch large waves of missiles like the one carried out earlier this week. In Yemen, these militias have claimed that five people died in those explosions.
“We have degraded their capacity,” said the director of the General Staff, General Douglas Sims, in conversation with journalists. “I don't think they can carry out blows in the same way they did the other day.”
On Tuesday, the rebels launched a wave of missiles and drones that the Pentagon claims were aimed at military ships it maintains in the area to protect commercial transit. As Kirby explained, that was the last straw. After having instructed his team to intensify diplomatic pressure, through public warnings to the Houthis and a United Nations Security Council resolution, and preparing plans for possible military action, that day Biden decided to give his approval to an attack.
From the military hospital where he is being treated for complications from treatment for prostate cancer, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gave orders to US forces on Thursday to open fire.
Washington assures that these attacks were purely defensive in nature, so they should not generate an escalation in tension. “This was designed solely to go against (the military's) ability to undermine international freedom of navigation in international waters, and we are convinced that we did a good job,” Sims noted.
The White House maintains that the military action has been carried out in accordance with US legislation and international law. “All [los emplazamientos atacados] “They were valid and legitimate military objectives,” Kirby added.
Some voices in the United States have expressed concern that an escalation of the conflict could occur. Democratic parliamentarian Elisa Slotkin, a former member of her country's intelligence services, noted on X, her former Twitter, her fear that Iran wants to drag the United States into deeper involvement in the crisis. “We should be worried about a regional escalation,” said the legislator, who has supported Thursday's military action. “Iran uses groups like the Houthis to fight its battles, to be able to deny that it has any hand in the matter and avoid a direct confrontation with the United States or others… This has to stop, and I hope (Tehran) has understood the message” .
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